willow pattern

American  

noun

1. a decorative design in English ceramics, depicting chiefly a willow tree, small bridge, and two birds, derived from Chinese sources and introduced in approximately 1780: often executed in blue and white but sometimes in red and white.

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willow pattern British  

noun

1. 1. a pattern incorporating a willow tree, river, bridge, and figures, typically in blue on a white ground, used on pottery and porcelain

   2. ( as modifier )

      a willow-pattern plate

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Etymology

Origin of willow pattern

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

willow pattern

The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred when the willow begins to shed its leaves.

From From John O'Groats to Land's End by Robert Naylor

The table is set with the old-fashioned willow pattern china, quaint Sheffield silver and is unmarked by any of the small dishes of sweets that fill breakfast tables.

From Breakfasts and Teas Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions by Paul Pierce

Now it is with no intention of directing the public eye to the "willow pattern," that I have alluded to this circumstance.

From Nuts and Nutcrackers by Charles James Lever

A common white-metal teapot, the heel of a half-quartern loaf, the head and tail of a herring, seen upon a blue willow pattern plate, told that the meal had not been epicurean.

From The Child Wife by Mayne Reid

You saw the shining of pure white damask, the flashing of silver, a flower-bed of blue willow pattern cups, an enormous pink and white cake.

From Mary Olivier: a Life by May Sinclair